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More Youngstown-Mahoning County mergers may be coming
YOUNGSTOWN
A tentative agreement to have Mahoning County take over the responsibilities of inspecting buildings in Youngstown from the city’s building department could be the first step in additional consolidations between the two.
Youngs-town Mayor Charles Sammarone and county Commissioner John McNally IV say there are other opportunities to consolidate, such as the county taking over the entire city building department as well as merging the boards of health and emergency 911 services.
But first they want to see how the building-inspection proposal works.
The two sides expect to have a deal finalized toward the end of next week with the contract expiring June 1.
The proposal came after the recent retirement of Anthony DeNicholas, the city’s assistant chief-enforcement officer, who was responsible for inspecting all residential, commercial and industrial buildings that are built or undergo improvement work.
There are about 1,200 inspections annually in Youngstown, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public-works department.
Under the proposal, the county would charge the city $60 per inspection.
This should save the city money, Sammarone said.
DeNicholas received $60,645 in pay last year, and it cost the city about another $25,000 in health and pension benefits.
“With only one inspector, it created a problem over the years,” Sammarone said. “We’re going to try this for three months. We believe there will be some savings. After three months, we’ll evaluate it and see if it works.”
By using the county’s two inspectors, same-day service for inspections would occur, something that isn’t happening with the city, Sammarone said.
“If this works, next to explore is having the county take over the whole building department and extend the agreement to a year or indefinitely,” Sammarone said. “We’re trying to do things differently to cut costs and improve services.”
If it doesn’t work out, the city is moving ahead with a civil-service test March 10 to fill DeNicholas’ position with a starting annual salary of $48,235.
“We’re doing this short-term first and hopefully it can be done long-term,” McNally said. “We’re hoping if we can do it over the long-term, it would be the beginning of combining more services. This is the first step toward the process of consolidating services.”
The county’s building department is based in Austintown, but may be moved downtown, McNally said.
Those wanting to build or improve a structure in Youngstown need a permit and an inspection by the city.
Besides the possibility of having the county take over the city’s building inspections, both sides remain interested in merging the city and county health districts and 911 services, McNally and Sammarone said.